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Community : Service Organizations Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM


BNT builds a mind-set of Conservation with BAMSI students
By BAMSI Bahamas
Nov 12, 2015 - 12:20:12 PM

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Pictured front row left are Erin Cash, Assistant Farm Manager, BAMSI; Vallierre Deleveaux, Deputy Executive Director, BAMSI; Lynn Gap, Deputy Executive Director, BNT; Dr. Raveenia Roberts-Hanna, Executvie Director, BAMSI; Gimel Morely, Marine Science Student; Liz Brace, Education Officer, BNT Andros; Jerri Kelly, Marketing Officer, BAMSI. Second row from left Montez Hopkins, Agriculture Student; Nigel Sands, Marine Science Student; Cameron LIghtbourne, Assistant Farm Manager and Aaron John, Agriculture Student.

The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) on Wednesday received a generous donation from the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) in the form of a 306 glossy page book entitled ‘Atlas of Shallow Water Marine Habitats of Cay Sal Bank, Great Inagua, Little Inagua and Hogsty Reef, Bahamas’.

The two agencies have a shared interest in conserving the terrestrial and marine habitats of the Bahamas and the book, compiled as a result of an initiative led by the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, now becomes a valuable contribution to BAMSI’s library. The hardback edition looks at the environment of a number of small islands, including Cay Sal, and gives an assessment of the geological status, as well as maps out the ecosystem of many Bahamian reefs and cays through brilliantly-coloured aerial photographs, satellite imagery and data from hundreds of research dives.

On hand for the presentation was Dr. Raveenia Roberts-Hanna, BAMSI’s executive director of BAMSI and Lynn Gape, BNTs deputy executive director. Dr Roberts-Hanna expressed gratitude for the donation, noting that the book would play an important role in educating students about the country’s marine environment and why the work of conservation is so critical.

“Part of ensuring that this nation achieves an acceptable level of food security is implementing policies that support sustainable measures used in developing, cultivating, growing, harvesting and capturing our primary food sources. BAMSI looks to collaborate with other agencies that support these same end goals and that seek to preserve the country’s natural habitats for future generations.

“The Atlas of Shallow Water Marine Habitats…’ provides an invaluable and comprehensive look at coral reefs in the Bahamas and for our marine science students especially it is the perfect foundation to build an understanding of the need for conservation and why it is important that we, as a country, adopt practical measures of protection for our resources.”

BNT’s Andros division has a formal relationship with BAMSI through the establishment of a student club, the BAMSI Eco-Warriors, which focuses on environmental, natural and conservation matters. BAMSI Faculty advisors for the club Cameron Lightbourne, Jerri Kelly and Erin Cash and Liz Brace, BNTs Education Officer and Operations Manager, Andros, guide students to a greater awareness of environmental stewardship.

According to the Living Oceans Foundation website, the book is the “result of months of underwater research to survey and map the seafloor” by a number of agencies, including BNT, the Department of Marine Resources and The Nature Conservancy. It is the first atlas to be published from the world’s largest coral reef study, the Global Reef Expedition – launched in 2011.

The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is a non-profit environmental science organisation and ocean research foundation established to help preserve, protect and restore the world’s oceans and aquatic resources through research, education and outreach.

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